Examples - Auction Management

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Our client is a mail-order stamp auction company. They accept consignments of rare postage stamps and covers to be auctioned six to eight times a year. For each auction, they print and mail a catalog comprising between fifteen hundred and twenty-five hundred lots. They publish a web version of the catalog several weeks before the mailing. Bids are accepted by mail, phone, and email. Within a few days of each auction's closing date, all lots and invoices are mailed to successful bidders.

Our software, created in Visual Foxpro™ and Visual Basic™, runs this business. Its major features:
  1. the data entry system.
  2. catalog printing.
  3. web site generation.
  4. the bid award system.
  5. a shipping fee calculator.
  6. invoicing/receivables/payables system.

1. Data entry:
Stamp evaluators describe, categorize, weigh, and scan images for each lot. Data saved into the database is used to print the catalog and create the web site.

2. Catalog printing:
In this project, we use a more advanced form of database publishing than that in our newspaper example. This system allows complete separation of the data from the presentation style(s). One mouse-click in our FoxPro application generates an XML (Extensible Markup Language) file from the data for a particular auction. Our Visual Basic program uses this XML file as input to create an Adobe InDesign™ document, including images, that will become the printed catalog. Final editing of the catalog is done in InDesign before burning to a CD and mailing to the printer.

3. Web site generation:
The same XML file generated for the printed catalog is used as input to our web site generator, also within our FoxPro application. The web site generator is an XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformation) processor, which merges the XML file with site-specific XSLT files. A web designer can modify the set of transformation files in any text editor to change the web site's appearance. No changes to the database application would be necessary. The XML file has further utility as a database on the web site itself, where a PERL script presents results of user searches.

4. Bid award:
Bids are entered into the database as they are received. The bid award system simulates a live auction, allowing bidders to submit their maximum bid by mail. The winning bidder pays only one bid increment above the next higher bidder.

5. Shipping fees:
Heavy lots (albums and collections) are usually shipped by courier; lighter lots (a few stamps) are mailed (and registered) through the post office. Some ship-to addresses require post office handling, regardless of weight. Foreign addresses may require special handling. Some lots require that payment be received before the lots may be shipped. The shipping fee system and a small crew can ship over a thousand lots in a few days.

6. Invoice/receivables/payables:
Successful bidders are eager to receive their lots; successful consigners are eager to receive payments. Expeditious invoicing and crediting of accounts is an important factor in customer satisfaction and retention. The bid award system automatically updates customer accounts and generates invoices and consigner documents.

Visit the site: http://www.destamps.com